Heckling will win you no friends

Heckling referees or opposing players at games proves nothing to anybody.

As a student at Indiana State, I am embarrassed whenever I sit at a basketball game at the Hulman Center and witness a Sycamore fan heckling the referees and/or the other team.

I can understand seeing heckling from the Blue Fury section, but from anywhere else, I feel it is atrocious. The reason to have a student section is to provide a true "home-court advantage." Other people in attendance provide that to a certain point, but they are mostly patrons paying to enjoy a game. A heckler reduces their enjoyment.

You may feel, as a heckler, that it is your right to heckle the referees or other team as you have paid for your ticket, parking, gas to drive to the arena and for concessions, but that is not true. It is also everybody else's right to enjoy the game and if they must sit next to somebody yelling at every travel or foul call, it ruins that and might possibly make them not want to come to the venue ever again.

Another thing about heckling is that it will never give you, the heckler, the satisfaction you desire. What is the point of telling a referee he's doing a bad job if he does not hear or respond to you? It is just a waste of your breath and makes your voice hoarse by the end of the night. And nobody wants to be sitting at a meal after a game struggling to tell a story because they can't be understood because of the raspiness of their voice.

Often, heckling can backfire.

When heckling a player, that player will want to prove you wrong in your "You suck" chant. This does seem to fit in with the intended effect of where the player will think, "Oh, he must be right if he said I suck, I better give up." If any player has that mentality, that person is not playing college basketball.

While referees are paid to be neutral, heckling can make them want to make calls against you out of spite. When I was a referee for intramural sports, it was hard not to be vindictive when people yelled at me after a "bad" call. So, I don't think that a referee is looking to you, Mr. or Ms. Heckling Sports Fan for advice on how to call a game.